Mailing List May Arouse Fec Scrutiny of Dole

Mailing List May Arouse Fec Scrutiny of Dole

Article excerpt

Bob Dole, shortly after he announced last year that he was
running for president, sent millions of Americans letters urging
them to contribute to the Heritage Foundation. And to Citizens
Against Government Waste. And to a half-dozen other right-of-center
groups.

Dole's advocacy could get his campaign into trouble with the
Federal Election Commission. It also could get tax-exempt groups he
helped into hot water with the Internal Revenue Service. That's
because tax-exempt groups can't play in partisan politics, and Dole
can't take help from them - and the letters he wrote for them
helped his campaign raise money.

Here's how it worked: The nonprofits paid for the letters,
which promoted both Dole and their cause. The nonprofits kept the
donations, but passed on to the Dole campaign, free of charge, the
names of every contributor he inspired. Those prospects - maybe
200,000 of them - subsequently got letters from Dole asking them to
contribute to his campaign.

Dole has not reported these mailing lists as contributions,
arguing that they were part of a barter not covered by federal
election law. The lists could be worth $40,000 or more, according
to direct-mail specialists. Under FEC law, campaigners can't take
anything from federally chartered nonprofits. Mailing lists are
explicitly banned.

Nor have the tax-exempt groups acknowledged any political help
to Dole. IRS law, reiterated in a public-warning notice last month,
bars their participation in "any activities that may be beneficial
or detrimental to any candidate."

Dole and the nonprofits argue that their deals were a simple
swap: a politician's fund-raising help for the names of donors
attracted.

"We are clearly within our rights to have engaged in this
practice," Christina Martin, deputy press secretary for Dole's
campaign, said Thursday. "We don't think there are any problems,
but if there are, they lie with the nonprofits and the IRS, not the
Dole campaign."

In fact, other presidential candidates, including Ronald
Reagan, have traded endorsements for mailing lists in the past. But
times may be changing, particularly at the IRS.

Tax-exempt groups that take part in politics in any way are
"going to get in trouble," warned Marcus Owens, director of its
Exempt Organizations Division. In an interview, Owens said he had a
record high of more than 30 such cases pending.

Just last month, Owens and the IRS cracked down on tax-exempt
groups that advocated electing or unseating particular candidates.
That had been a staple motivator in fund-raising appeals of many
groups.

Without referring to Dole's deals in particular, Owens said
that trades involving mailing lists "could very well be viewed as
political intervention because a mailing list is a very valuable
item for a political campaign."

Frances Hill, a University of Miami law professor who
concentrates on exempt organizations, commented: "The IRS is
shooting straight at the heart of a rather common practice. …